Stephen Colbert has had enough. The Late Show host spent 10 minutes on his Wednesday night program railing against conspiracy theorists for creating the "Pizzagate" hoax that led an armed man to target Washington, D.C., restaurant Comet Ping Pong over the weekend. Colbert also called out President-elect Donald Trump's national security adviser pick, Army Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, for posting a link on Twitter to the hoax with the remarks, "u decide." "OK, then I decide a guy who spreads this --- shouldn't be in charge of national security," Colbert said to applause. Later, after detailing how Wikileaks, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and a sub-thread on Reddit involved his former Comedy Central TV show, The Colbert Report, in the whole mess, the comedian had only four words. read more

Next week, the American Geophysical Union will hold its annual conference in San Francisco. The A.G.U. meeting is one of the world's première scientific gatherings -- last fall, some twenty-four thousand experts in fields ranging from astronomy to volcanology attended.

This year, in addition to the usual papers and journals, a new publication will be available to participants. It's called "Handling Political Harassment and Legal Intimidation: A Pocket Guide for Scientists."

The guide is the creation of a group called the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund. One of the group's founders, Joshua Wolfe, and its executive director, Lauren Kurtz, made the decision to write it on the day after the election. "There is a lot of fear among scientists that they will become targets of people who are interested in science as politics, rather than progress," Wolfe told me in an e-mail. read more

The man who's helmed Hardee's and Carl's Jr. could become the nation's top workplace watchdog. Best of luck, Fight for $15.

In a rebuke to President Barack Obama's work on the labor front, President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday is expected to choose a fast-food executive to be the nation's next labor secretary, tasked with enforcing workplace safety and wage laws on behalf of U.S. workers.

Andrew Puzder, who advised Trump during his presidential campaign, is the chief executive of CKE Restaurants, which includes the burger chains Hardee's and Carl's Jr. among its brands. He's largely credited with turning around Hardee's after taking over the company in 1997.

The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported the Puzder pick on Thursday, citing anonymous transition officials. read more

Whatever kind of president Donald J. Trump turns out to be, he will surely be no Harry S. Truman. Instead of the sign that Truman kept on his desk declaring that "The Buck Stops Here," Trump should get one that says, "Don't Blame Me" -- embellished perhaps with the phony coat of arms he plastered on his Scottish golf course.

A month after he won the presidential election, Trump is happy to take credit for things he likes -- like the recent rebound in the stock market or the jobs that may be saved at that infamous Carrier plant thanks to millions of dollars the taxpayers of Indiana are going to pay.

"I'm not president yet, so I didn't do anything to divide," Trump said in a phone call to the "Today" show. (He called in to gloat about being named TIME Magazine's person of the year, a distinction also given to the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Yuri Andropov, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin -- twice.)

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Wednesday he will nominate professional wrestling magnate and former Senate candidate Linda McMahon as his choice to head the Small Business Administration.

Trump's announcement said McMahon would be a key player in his effort to generate stronger job growth and roll back federal regulations.

McMahon, 68, is a co-founder and former CEO of the professional wrestling franchise WWE, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut. She ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010. She was an early supporter of Trump's presidential campaign.

The SBA, which has at least one office in every U.S. state, provides support to small businesses such as by extending loans and making sure they get a percentage of federal contracts.

Trump said McMahon had helped the WWE grow from a 13-person operation to a publicly traded global enterprise with more than 800 employees worldwide. Trump is a WWE Hall of Fame member. read more